Can I be real a second? For just a millisecond?
Sometimes I’ll see that a big chain store - Walmart, Target, Barnes and Noble - is selling Gunpla, and I’ll buy one not because I’m particularly enamored with the mobile suit in question, but simply to vote with my wallet.
This is one of those times:
I’ve built Gelgoog variants before, and I quite liked them. But the original Gelgoog has never been one of my favorites. Now, join me as I try to build it, and maybe even learn to love it.
About the Mobile Suit
Rather than use the Gundam Wiki, I translated the flavor text from the manual, and it’s a pretty good summation:
The Gelgoog was developed as a successor to the MS-06 Zaku II and as a new standard mobile suit. It was the first mobile suit in the Principality of Zeon's army to be equipped with beam weapons as standard equipment, and is said to be the most highly perfected mobile suit among those mass-produced during the One Year War.Needless to say, the Gelgoog was strongly influenced by the Federation Forces' "Gundam", and the inclusion of beam weapons was considered from the outset of its development. It features a high-output generator to power these weapons and possesses high close-quarters combat capabilities. In other words, it was a mobile suit designed specifically for anti-MS combat, and in addition to its close-quarters and melee combat capabilities, the standard beam weapons allowed it to engage in long-range combat as well.
Above all, the power of its beam rifle was immense, giving this mobile suit destructive power comparable to a battleship. Although the development plan itself existed from a fairly early stage, delays in achieving high versatility and in the development of beam weapons meant that it was only introduced into combat at the end of the One Year War.
Therefore, despite significantly surpassing the Zaku in basic performance, the training, production, and deployment of pilots could not keep up, and it was unable to achieve significant battle results.
However, its basic performance is said to have even surpassed that of the "Gundam" according to one theory, and it is said that if it had been properly deployed under the command of superior pilots, the outcome of the One Year War would have been different.
Incidentally, the first 25 units that were mass-produced are sometimes referred to as the YMS-14, and the unit received by Char is included among them.
TL:DR the Gelgoog was meant as a weapon to surpass Metal Gear surpass the Gundam, but it was too little too late.
About the Visual Design
I have some thoughts and feelings about the design of the Gelgoog. Have had them for a long time, in fact. And that made me wonder - have I ever explained those feelings on this blog?
Surely I must have! I mean, if I previously built two Gelgoog variants, I must have mentioned the original design at least a little bit.
Right …?
Why yes, technically I did. A little.
A little little.
Looking back, it looks like I actually had nothing to say about the original Gelgoog while building Cima’s unit. But when I built the Gelgoog Jager, I said (just) this:
I doubt I’m the only person who finds the original Gelgoog design to be unflattering. It has no true skirt armor, it’s wide torso makes it look chubby, and its snout-like face feels more goofy than menacing.
To be clear, I don’t disagree with these old remarks, but there’s so much more to it than that. Allow me to expand.
It is my opinion that, as much or more than any other mobile suit design from First Gundam, the Gelgoog feels like the product of 1970’s science fiction. Like, when I see the Gelgoog’s torso:
I see this:
Or maybe this:
Or even this:
It’s just lots of flat panels arranged in a polygonal shape with vents and gratings and shit. It’s an aesthetic that works well enough for machinery and equipment, but not so much for a humanoid robot.
Then there’s the fact that instead of having traditional skirt armor, it has what looks like the equivalent of 1970’s short shorts (the image below taken from the History of Fashion blog):
What makes this so weird to me is that none of the other Zeon Mobile Suit designs from the One Year War era look this. I guess maybe the Dom gets close, but that still looks more like it has a uniform skirt. The short shorts on the Gelgoog feel unbecoming of a warrior.
Now what about the size? Or should I say the girth? I stand by what I said back in 2022, which is that the shape of the torso makes the OG Gelgoog look chubby. That’s a vibe that some mobile suits pull off well, but not this one. Not when the Gelgoog is supposed to be a match for the (agile, slender looking) Gundam.
And then there’s the head. Again, I agree with what I previously said, which is that it looks more goofy than menacing. It does the same thing as a lot of the villain designs from Zeta Gundam, where it looks less like a human face or a knight’s helmet, and more like the face of the monster in some Creature Feature Movie.
It’s a style that I don’t particularly love, but even I can admit that it can look good if it’s made to look like a scary monster. But that’s not what we get here. The Gelgoog’s snout is too rounded, which makes it look too friendly. Then there’s the fact that it’s brow is scrunched; my guess is that it’s supposed look like it’s furrowing it in anger, but in practice it just looks like it’s squinting.
It’s simply not threatening, but it’s also not cute like a Zaku head can be. It just looks kind of silly.
Running on Empty?
Assuming that First Gundam's mobile suit designs were worked on roughly in order of their appearance, my guess - and this is only a guess - is that maybe Kunio Okawara had blown through all his best ideas, and was running on creative fumes by the time he got to working on the Gelgoog. That might also explain the other questionable mobile suit designs from late in the show, such as the Gyan, the Rick Dom (which is "bad" in the sense that it's just the Dom all over again), the Zeong, and the Elmeth.
Now, does this mean that the Gelgoog really, truly looks bad?
Kinda?
I think I’ve finally warmed up to it, in the sense that I’m willing to embrace it’s cheesy, 70’s Sci Fi vibe. That doesn’t mean I think it looks good, or menacing, or tough, or cool. I just think it’s endearing and interesting as a product of its time, for whatever that’s worth.
Appearances in Media
You know, for being a supposed equal to the Gundam, the Gelgoog does not have a great showing in First Gundam. Not only does it not appear for very long, but it gets its ass kicked more than once.
The first battle between the Gelgoog and the Gundam is immediately - and I mean immediately - after Amuro finishes fighting M’Quve and his Gyan in episode 36.
Yet despite Amuro being tired, and despite his Gundam being low on energy and suffering from damage, he’s able to fight Char - who is seemingly rested and using a fresh, brand new mobile suit - to a standstill.
Basically, the mobile suit that’s equal to the Gundam can’t beat it even when it’s at less than full strength.
Animation Error, or Not?
Here's a fun fact - the Gelgoog uses a beam naginata as its melee weapon, but in this first encounter it's clearly using one made of metal. It even makes clanging noises:
I'm genuinely curious as to whether or not this was an accident (it almost certainly was, right? It had to be - these kinds of errors are extremely commonplace in animation)
The next time they fight, when both the pilots and the mobile suits are in “perfect” condition, Amuro manages to shoot the Gelgoog’s arm off, forcing Char to retreat:
(note that while we see Char retreating by holding onto the Elmeth, if I recall correctly the Lalah doesn’t get involved. It’s a straight, one-on-one fight between Amuro and Char)
For their third and final encounter, the Gundam comes equipped with Magnetic Coating on its joints that makes it move faster. This is an upgrade for sure, which would lead one to assume that it now has the power to dunk on the Gelgoog. But this time the Elmeth does join in the fight, forcing Amuro to solo them both.
Which he does! Handily! In fact, he f*cking takes another arm off:
This means that at least one of the following two things are true:
- The Gelgoog is not, in fact, a Gundam killer
- Amuro becomes such a better pilot than Char that having an equally powerful mobile suit still doesn’t mean that they’re on equal footing
I personally go with Option #2. Anyone who has watched Char’s Counterattack knows that that’s another event in which Amuro and Char face off in roughly equally powerful mobile suits, and once again Amuro completely dog walks him.
In fact, the only time we see Char match up evenly with Amuro is when the former uses something as ridiculously large and overpowered as the Zeong. That’s how much of a handicap he needs, which is why I don’t think we can consider his performance in the Gelgoog as an indictment on the mobile suit’s performance.
(Side note - this another reason why I don’t love Zeta Gundam. It’s got Char doing all the important stuff, and fighting all the ace enemy pilots, while leaving Amuro to futz around on Earth. It was a decision allegedly done in the name of pleasing Char fans (who were, admittedly, rather boisterous back in the 80’s), and while I get that from a business standpoint, it was stupid from a creative one. From an in-universe perspective, there’s no way they don’t try to force Amuro onto the front lines)
Interestingly enough, we see a Zeon Remnant pilot using old (well, actually the girlfriend of a dead Zeon Remnant pilot, but whatever), leftover Gelgoog in Episode 26 of Double Zeta, and despite the mobile suit being very old and outdated at that point in teh timeline, she manages to put up a surprisingly decent fight against the entire Gundam Team.
About the Model Kit
This kit is from the vaunted HGUC class of 2006:
As you can see, I’ve built quite a few of these models, and they’ve all been pretty great. Not perfect, mind you, at least not when it comes to color accuracy, but in terms of their engineering they all feel like they’re at least five years ahead of their time. That’s why I expect some good things from this build.
Funny images
While taking screenshots of the Gelgoog as it appears in First Gundam, I took some additional shots that I thought were interesting, or simply funny.
First, I like this shot when it’s first launching, simply because of how heavy and scratchy the penciling is:
This one is weird, as it looks like it’s lowering itself to smell Lalah:
This one simply confirms that the pink circle in the center of the torso is, in fact, the cockpit hatch:
There are at least two instances that I can remember where Gelgoog and Gundam start unloading on each other with their beam rifles. I’ts not much by modern standards, but it’s pretty intense for 1970’s TV animation, and does a good job at suggesting a certain level of intensity to the overall battle:
Lastly, this one is funny because the Gelgoog just shows up out of nowhere in a scene where Amuro and Lalah start tripping balls. It makes me laugh every time: